Marcus Kurt
Marcus Kurt, or simply Marcus, 'is a supporting character in ''Wild Souls: Infinite Frontier and later a secondary antagonist in Wild Souls: Operation Bermuda, reappearing once more as a supporting character in Wild Souls: Survival of the Fittest. He is briefly mentioned in Wild Souls: Criaturo Nocturno. Originally presented as a strong-and-silent type in Infinite Frontier, Marcus is one of many professional Animal-Spirit users enlisted in the '''Association's raid on the Collective. His "official" job is that of a private investigator, although he is later revealed to be a federal agent of the Association itself. Among the Association, he is one of their top-ranked "employees". In Operation Bermuda, Marcus is given two tasks by the Association: firstly, finding and locating a former high-ranking Collective member named Debach Crudal, who is on the run after the organization's collapse; secondly, to stop the trade of the drug known as "Hell's Rose". It is stated that Marcus was previously responsible for bringing down similar rogue Collective members. Marcus, as previously mentioned, is a user of an Animal-Spirit, possessing'「Flat - Worm」', a short-range Spirit that grants him a degree of control over his body's structure and composition. Appearance Similar to Ben, Marcus appears as a very large man with a similarly muscular and well-defined physique, although Marcus himself is slightly slimmer. He has short black hair, styled in a series of cornrows, with a well-defined widow's peak. His eyes, when shown, are a bright yellow in color, and his jaw is shown as a square with a cleft chin. His eyebrows are also solidly sharp. Marcus' appearance changes very little in the course of the story. He is mostly seen in a black tank top, with black pants fastened with a black belt under a large grey trenchcoat, which he wears open-faced. He is most often seen wearing combat boots as footwear. One of his most defining apppearance traits are his sunglasses, which he wears whenever he is in the field. Utilizing miniature projectors, the lenses of the sunglasses display messages to him through information fed into receptors by the Association. In Survival of the Fittest, Marcus interviews for a teaching job at the Augustus Leopold School for Higher Learning, wearing a black button-down shirt with a red tie, and khaki pants fastened with a black belt. He also substitutes his combat boots with a pair of simple black shoes. Marcus often carries numerous weapons on his person, most notably a pair of Glock-34 pistols he keeps in two concealed holsters; one the right interior of his trench coat and one on the left. Personality Marcus is a stoic man who holds a purely objective view of the world, believing bias is an indulgence of the weak-minded. He, like his comrade Ben, is mostly logical and scoffs at the idea of keeping an appearance matching someone of his physical power and influence. He comes off as apathetic and unimpressed in most of his appearances. Marcus, also similar to Ben, is unrestricted when expressing his ideas and beliefs. He is, however, highly reserved in physical terms, often downright ignoring infringements against his person, usually only acting when a threat is present. When a threat does present itself, however, Marcus is among the first to respond, often shooting the target or else dispatching it physically. Marcus is revealed later to have poured most of his restricted emotions into his relationship with his wife, Ruby, whom he treats with the utmost affection and respect, considering her to be "the candle in his dark world". When Ruby is abducted and injected with a vial of "Hell's Rose", Marcus is seen to become very mentally and emotionally damaged, as well as becoming highly focused on returning her to consciousness. Marcus also cares extensively for the well-being of Dr. Winters, whom he had romantic feelings for in the past, as well as Franklin, whose well-being he feels responsible for. Marcus lives by a personal mantra of balance, taking literally such phrases as "an eye for an eye". In this manner, he repays both insults and kindnesses to their givers. Although this is mostly observed in him repaying the same injuries to his foes that they attempted to give him (such as splitting open a criminal's knee when the man had previously shot his), it is also seen in his attempts to relocate Franklin after the boy sacrificed his memories to revive Marcus' wife and the other drugged patients. For the most part, Marcus is unafraid of acting violently towards criminals, often killing dangerous ones quickly with little to no remorse. He does have slight reservations in fighting those whom he considers allies, however, such as Ben. Abilities Animal-Spirit: '''Marcus wields an Animal-Spirit known as '''Flatworm, '''which Marcus stylizes as '''「Flat - Worm」. As with all Animal-Spirits, Flatworm grants Marcus a superhuman ability: * "Mesenchyme": '''Flatworm's primary ability is to grant its user a certain amount of control over their own body, an ability which Marcus has named "Mesenchyme", in reference to a flatworm's connective tissue. Mesenchyme is always activated unless Marcus wills it not to be, and automatically changes Marcus' physiology in ways that provide him with the following powers: ** '''Anatomical Transformation: '''If Marcus is injured, Flatworm, via Mesenchyme, transforms the composition of the injured area, as well as the flesh and/or organs in close proximity to the injury, into an unknown, viscous substance, which appears the same color as Marcus' skin. This ability activates within seconds of Marcus being injured, and does not immediately heal Marcus' injuries but does plug the injured area and prevent further trauma. The material, which is referred to as having a "oobleck"-like consistency by Marcus himself, does not prevent Marcus from feeling initial pain. *** '''Regeneration: '''Marcus can easily push open wounds back together once Mesenchyme transforms his skin into "oobleck". Once the wound is sealed, Mesenchyme reverts the substance back to Marcus' original flesh. Open wounds can also heal without Marcus' intervention, but it will take far longer; a bullet hole, for instance, can be sealed manually in under ten seconds but requires a minute to fully close on its own. *** '''Limb Reattachment: If Marcus loses any part of his body, Mesenchyme transforms the end of the lost part, as well as its end on Marcus himself, into the same "oobleck" as previously mentioned. For a limb to reattach, Marcus must place his semidetached body part end-to-end in its original place, whereupon it reattaches and reverts to its original flesh composition. Flatworm cannot transform the end of a body part that is more than 2 meters away from Marcus, and requires him to get within said radius for Mesenchyme to convert the lost appendage from flesh into the mud-like substance. ** Density Manipulation: '''Marcus can also will Flatworm to activate Mesenchyme when he is not injured and convert a body part into the oobleck-like substance. Once it has occurred, Marcus can increase the density of his oobleck-flesh to around the density of steel. Marcus tends not to use this ability, however, because it requires his complete focus on every part he is converting, and because it costs him immense amounts of stamina. *** '''Superhuman Strength: Marcus can lift around 75 tons by intensifying the density of his muscles. *** Superhuman Durability: Marcus can become as dense as solid steel after converting his flesh composition. *** Superhuman Speed: Marcus can match Coin in speed when the latter was at half power. Mesenchyme will cease to activate if Marcus' brain cannot receive oxygen. Therefore, Marcus can be killed via drowning or suffocation. * Firearm Knowledge: '''Marcus has extensive knowledge of various types of guns and other projectile weapons, as well as how to use them. * '''Gun Accuracy: '''Marcus is shown to have excellent accuracy with using guns. * '''Hand-to-Hand Combat: Marcus is undergone martial arts training as a special operative.